A well-known use for thermoelectric devices is for the extraction of electric power from waste heat. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,548 discloses a self powered space heater for a truck in which heat energy for the heater is used to power electric components of the heater plus charge a battery. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,163 heat from a stovepipe is used to generate electricity. U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,098 discloses a self-powered furnace. Various types of thermoelectric modules are available. A very reliable thermoelectric module with a gap-less egg-crate design is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,875,098 and 5,856,210. U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,887 discloses a miniature milli-watt thermoelectric module useful in space applications (and special applications on earth) in combination with radioactive heat source. Quantum well very thin layer thermoelectric modules are known. Some are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,096,965, 6,096,964, 5,436,467 and 5,550,387. U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,349 describes an electric generator using a thermoelectric module to generate electric power from the heat of fusion produced by the freezing of a phase change material. All of these patents are assigned to Applicant's employer and they are all incorporated herein by reference.
Workers in the thermoelectric industry have been attempting too improve performance of thermoelectric devices for the past 20-30 years with not much success. Most of the effort has been directed to reducing the lattice thermal conductivity (K) without adversely affecting the electrical conductivity. Experiments with superlattice quantum well materials have been underway for several years. These materials were discussed in an paper by Gottfried H. Dohler which was published in the November 1983 issue of Scientific American. This article presents an excellent discussion of the theory of enhanced electric conduction in superlattices. These superlattices contain alternating conducting and barrier layers and create quantum wells that improve electrical conductivity. These superlattice quantum well materials are crystals grown by depositing semiconductors in layers each layer with a thickness in the range of a few to up to about 100 angstroms. Thus, each layer is only a few atoms thick. (These quantum well materials are also discussed in articles by Hicks, et al and Harman published in Proceedings of 1992 1st National Thermoelectric Cooler Conference Center for Night Vision & Electro Optics, U.S. Army, Fort Belvoir, Va. The articles project theoretically very high ZT values as the layers are made progressively thinner.) The idea being that these materials might provide very great increases in electric conductivity without adversely affecting Seebeck coefficient or the thermal conductivity. Harmon of Lincoln Labs, operated by MIT has claimed to have produced a superlattice of layers of (Bi,Sb) and Pb(Te,Se). He claims that his preliminary measurements suggest ZTs of 3 to 4. FIG. 1 shows theoretical calculated values (Sun et al—1998) of ZT plotted as a function of quantum well width.
Most of the efforts to date with superlattices have involved alloys that are known to be good thermoelectric materials for cooling, many of which are difficult to manufacture as superlattices. FIGS. 1A and 1B herein were FIGS. 3 and 5 of the “467 patent referred to above. A large number of very thin layers (in the '467 patent, about 250,000 layers) together produce a thermoelectric leg 10 about 0.254 cm thick. In the embodiment shown in the figures all the legs are connected electrically in series and otherwise are insulated from each other in an egg-crate type thermoelectric element as shown in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1B current flows from the cold side to the hot side through P legs and from the hot side to the cold side through N legs. (Electrons flow in the opposite direction.) These patents disclose superlattice layers comprised of: (1) SiGe as conducting layer and Si as a barrier layer and (2) alternating layers of two different alloys of boron carbide. In the '387 patent Applicants disclose that they had discovered that strain in the layers can have very beneficial effects on thermoelectric properties of the elements disclosed in the '467 patent.
Monitors for collecting and transmitting information from remote locations must have a power source. In some cases power can be supplied a battery, solar cell or an electric power utility source. Batteries have to be replaced periodically. Many locations do not have sunlight and in many locations bringing in power from the power company can be very expensive. Often where the monitor is to be needed in a location where a heat source is available. Many monitors with transmitters require very small amounts of power.
Large engine driven vehicles such as ships of the United States Navy require numerous monitors in location where electric power is not readily available. These vehicles do in many cases have heat sources available where the monitors are needed. A good example is gas turbine equipment providing power for AC&R/HVAC).
What is needed is a better technique for producing very efficiently small amounts of electric power in very isolated locations.